Documents: Philip Morris Quizzed Kids On Smoking

OTHER NEWS TO NOTE - SOUTH

December 16, 1996

RICHMOND, VA. — Internal company documents show that Philip Morris used pollsters in the 1970s to quiz youngsters about their smoking habits at drive-ins, bowling alleys and beaches, a newspaper reported Sunday. Studies between 1970 and 1988 by research and marketing experts at Philip Morris show how the largest U.S. tobacco company, which denies ever targeting children, looked for information about the smoking and buying habits of the nation's youth, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported. An internal memo recommends interviewing kids as young as 14 away from their parents so they would give candid answers.